MI0 Pleasure
by Sacred3
Summary: SpyAU: The MI0-The Military Intelligence, Section 0, deals with magic. When the head of MI0, Arthur Pendragon sends Merlin - Agent Warlock, to retrieve a highly magical artifact Project BLUE, he encounters 'The Witch' - Morgana, a freelance thief. This sets off a series of events which include babysit-uhh body guarding Morgana. Mergana. Rated M for violence and mature themes
1. Chapter 1

_Publishing this on Fanfiction to get it out of the way. I really need to study. Say thanks to my awesome beta __**SunnySmile2413**__ who is great at correcting my horrendous grammar. It's pretty violent so far hence the M rating. _

**MI0 Pleasure**

**Chapter 1**

The scientist was thrown against the cold, tiled floor; crimson smearing against the pristine white ceramic and blotches slowly spread across his lab coat. The thug walked up to him and kicked the man in the stomach with his steel capped shoe before kicking his face. A loud crunch from fracturing bones could be heard throughout the room, accompanying by the beeps of a monitor, the dripping of some concoction and the groans of pain from the scientist. His nose was broken and obscured, blood dripping down his smashed face. The thug raised his foot to perform another kick.

"Halt Maleagant!" the man in the crisp white suit ordered by raising his hand.

Maleagant stopped in mid-kick and put his foot back down. He turned and gave his boss a nod before taking a step from the battered scientist.

The man in the white suit took a few steps towards the scientist until he was directly in front of him before kneeling down to be eye level with him. The scientist looked at the man in fear, fear that was clear as day. The man swiftly brought his hand to the scientist's face and grabbed his chin roughly, sending bolts of pain through the scientist's bleeding and bruising face as it was turned to face the man.

"Next time you try to escape I will have you killed, Doctor," he sneered.

"I don't care if I die," the doctor said defiantly through his split lip.

"Ohh, Doctor, but I do. Who else will work on Project BLUE for me?"

The doctor was a geneticist, but Project BLUE was too uncanny, too unnatural. BLUE - the tear shaped, spherical object that was pale blue and smooth as marble did not follow the laws of science. It was magic.

"No one, Borden, no one has the knowledge nor experience but me!" The scientist leapt towards Borden's neck with a sharpened pen he grabbed from his pocket.

The scientist did manage to get on Borden, staining his white suit with his blood, but Borden with a gold flash of his eyes and quickly muttered a spell that sent the scientist flying back. The scientist knew his plan had failed. Before Borden could restrain him with magic the doctor plunged the sharpened pen through his neck, piercing through the neck and twisting it till it ripped through his muscles. All of a sudden the doctor stopped moving, his eyes – lifeless. Blood dribbled out of the neck wound and his mouth, adding to the fountain from his already bleeding face.

Borden stood up, willing away the urge to straighten his clothes because of the blood all over his suit. He took one final glance at the dead body before he shook his head.

"What a pity, scientists always seem to think they know everything," he turned on his heel to make his way out of the lab, "Maleagant, go get the cleaners to dispose of the body and I'm going to have look for a new suit and someone to work on Project BLUE," Borden sighed before leaving the room.

* * *

In an average London suburb, along an average shopping strip, there stood an average looking building. This building was the headquarters of Mortgage Insurance Organisation, a very boring business. A rubbish business in fact, those actually looking for insurance found the rates were ridiculously high and totally unaffordable. Yet, to a passerby this store unbelievably had clients - some very odd clients who often came in bandaged up, hauling massive boxes of god knows what amongst other things.

However, beneath the neutral, business friendly exterior of its office was a secret organisation, The MI0 – The Military Intelligence, Section 0. It was, and still is, the most secretive of the military intelligence agencies, so secret that other MIs don't even know they exist. Why so secret you may ask? Well, this sector dealt with magic. In particular, magic that threatens the security of Albion, also known as England in the modern language. But in the official MI0 documents, it is written as Albion because this agency was formed back in the days when it was still called that.

A young blond man, not that you could tell he was blond or that his eyes were that of an icy blue hue or that those eyes held the emotion of a person who lost so much in one instant and then had a weight of a huge burden (or responsibility he tried to tell himself in the mirror sometimes) in a charcoal grey suit was sitting behind a plain, oak desk. You were not able to see such features because the room was shrouded in darkness but if you could it wouldn't be adorn with anything personal, it was simply impersonal, professional and devoid of life.

The only source of light was from the monitor hidden behind an old oil painting of a vase of flowers from his predecessors. His hands were folded neatly under his chin, staring intently on the message on screen from his higher up.

**RETRIEVE PROJECT BLUE**

**-K**

Arthur closed his eyes, thinking about his next move. After a few moments he opened his eyes. He concocted a full scale retrieval mission in one minute and sixteen seconds.

He just needed Agent Warlock and the Knights.

* * *

Merlin Emrys was waiting in a café near Sydney Opera House, Australia, carefully sipping his soy mocha. He was dressed in a pressed black suit with a white shirt and tie, and currently waiting for someone.

He may look like an everyday business man waiting for a client, except he was Agent Warlock of the MI0. Whilst sipping his mocha, his eyes were continuously scanning the area; he noted two exits – the front glass door used by customers and another unused door blocked by an ornamental tree. The windows took up half the wall and made entirely made of glass. This man had chosen a location that could be easily compromised; it disturbed Merlin and kept him on edge. He watched everybody with suspicion and paranoia, an elderly couple was enjoying their coffees, a pair of dating teenagers sharing a slice of cake (more likely because the boyfriend was a cheapskate), the waitress flirting with a customer and a pair of American tourists asking for directions.

Then a man with a black suit and pale blue shirt holding a bag from the Lindt Chocolate store entered the busy café. He was a middle aged man with grey brown hair and slightly obese but Merlin knew appearances could be deceiving. The man quickly scanned the room and spotted Merlin before making his way there and seating himself on the chair opposite Merlin.

"Mr. Emrys. Nice to meet you at last," greeted the man with a warm smile.

Merlin's expression remained completely blank but in an instant he smiled pleasantly, "I'm not sure if I could say the same to you Mr Scorpio. Trying to meet up with you ended up with me being chased across six countries and getting into four gun fights," he said in a tone the contradicted his expression.

"Please call me Accolon, Mr. Emrys. Well then I am sorry for the trouble. But back to business do you have the item requested?" asked Accolon.

"Then please call me Merlin. And yes, but do you have yours?"

Accolon placed the Lindt bag on the table and took out a box of chocolates; Merlin raised an eyebrow at the disguise. Accolon proceeded to open the box but instead of chocolates in the tray there was an assortment of magical crystals and gems in a variety of colours. Some of them were magic enhancers, but most were blood crystals used for scrying and necromancy. However, the most important thing was the piece of paper folded on top that listed all the names in the syndicate dealing in the illegal trade of blood crystals.

With Accolon's display done, Merlin reached for his inner pocket and took out a USB and placed it on the table and said, "This contains everything that would delete your current identity, create you a new one and a has a list of contacts to get you away from the syndicate."

The man nodded but then he turned sullen, "I would like to say thank you Merlin but it is already too late. You see, they already found me,"Accolon smiled sadly and unveiled a bomb underneath his jacket with only three seconds to go.

Merlin took one glance of the bomb and immediately swiped the USB and the note before flashing his eyes gold to shield everyone from the explosion. The explosion became self-contained, and it looked like a tea bag that was dropped into boiling water in a glass, interspersing the blinding light within the shield that instantly incinerated Accolon Scorpio within.

Nobody in the café was hurt; instead everybody who witnessed the 'explosion' was dumbstruck with what they had just seen. But in the corner of Merlin's eye was a metallic glint and his eyes flashed gold again, slowing time so he was able to dodge a bullet from a far off sniper. The bullet sped through the glass, piercing it. It was a .300 bullet from a 1200mm Winchester Magnum with an accuracy range of 1400m used in the Iraq and Afghan war –obviously a stolen or black market weapon but nevertheless a syndicate sniper was nearby.

The bullet embedded itself on the opposite wall in the middle of a painting of a matador fighting a bull. Merlin returned to normal time and watched the entire glass window shatter. That's when all hell broke loose. People were screaming and running, pushing and shoving each other to get out of the café.

Merlin reached for his pocket and a retrieved a packet of cigarettes and removed one from the top corner. All of the cigarettes started flashing red and he chucked the packet in the centre of the café. In three seconds, the packet emitted a colourless gas that got them to calm down and forget what they had seen. Then another bullet flew past the throng of people and miraculously missed every single person.

"_Swefnu!" _With a gold spark from his eyes everyone fell asleep and slumped on the floor. Merlin dodged all the bodies and jumped out through the broken window and weaved through the Sydney crowds to find the sniper.

In the moonlight on a pier, Merlin looked down at the dead sniper, watching the lifeless body float down Darling Harbour. He was thinking with dread what he was going to say to the Prat. At least he managed to get some information out of the sniper even though the job ended up being a dud. He felt his phone vibrate and he took it out to see the message, and speak of the devil and the devil shall appear - a message from the Prat.

**Warlock return to HQ immediately**

**-P**

P really stood for Prince, the codename for the head of MI0 but to Merlin he was really the Prat or just simply Arthur Pendragon. He sighed at the order, already feeling a migraine beginning to work its way through his head.

* * *

An ivory skinned secretary with piercing green eyes and long, flowing black hair with her folder strutted confidently down the aisles of the Bank of England. Her ten inch heels made a clacking noise that made sure all male employees paid attention to her, as well as appreciate the suggestive swing her hips gave in the tight, thigh high skirt.

She kept on walking until she reached the high security rooms with the computer servers that held all the banks digitalised money and intending future plans for investments and so forth - plans that many investment companies and other banks would pay highly for. It was just secured beneath a very high-tech security vault with very sensitive detection technology. That was if you didn't have The Witch's particular talents.

She held her hand in front of the key pad and sensor and whispered, "_Oncluce þe_."

The vault door opens. She keeps repeating this until she is in the heart of the chamber where the servers are stored. She quickly gets to work and hacks into the system to get all the information.

By the time the police and security are rushing into the building, a woman with a long skirt, her hair tied back severely and piercing green eyes hidden behind black, thick rimmed glasses, is exiting the bank without a single person batting an eyelash at her.

She ends up texting all her clients about the heist and the price she demands on her way to the tube. On the train she hacks into one of her old clients' servers, The Saint Corporation, with her Blackberry phone. Their security system was really shit but she continues to read the various top secret files anyway. It was the usual stuff: dirty dealings, tax evasion, money laundering, the whole kit and caboodle. But one thing catches her eye.

Project BLUE.

She skims through the files on the various dead scientists who have been trying to figure it out, figure out this BLUE. She looks at the various diagrams and analyses on BLUE, this blue tear shaped object.

It was something she must have. Something Morgana must get her hands on.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_This was the most popular idea from my little poll. Luckily, I have made a relatively decent plan for it. Just for your information, the title of the story is a bit of a pun. MI0 could be read at 'mio' meaning 'my' in Italian, hence the title could mean 'My Pleasure'. ;P. Since I'm meant to be studying don't expect an update for a while, but put this on alert and please review __._


	2. Chapter 2

_Still alive, but didn't I warn you of erratic update times right? Also I should warn you that this story maybe bit of a slow burner but it'll get awesome eventually (IMHO). So please be patient with these introductory chapters and forth. And thanks to my beta __**Sunnysmile2413**__._

**MI0 Pleasure**

**Chapter 2**

Arthur was working on some seriously sensitive MI0 documents when his office door swung open without the security alarm being raised—much less his secretary, Guinevere Leondegrance, notifying him of the unknown visitor.

In a span of a few milliseconds his brain came up with a few ideas, which were easily summarised into two options.

One— there was an intruder breaking into the MI0 headquarters to sabotage them or steal from them. But since it was a break into his personal office, which overlooked boring suburbia, it may be an assassination attempt on his life—the Head of MI0's life. However, since the alarm system on Arthur's engagement ring to his fiancé did not go off, it was probably option two. The ring in mention had a high-tech micro computing system inlaid into the gold; it could be used for GPS tracking and had a concise summarization of said person's vital signs in real time settings. Did we mention that Guinevere that was engaged to the Pendragon leader?

Option one's main objective had not been initiated, thus the latter option was the most likely occurrence that interrupted Arthur Pendragon's mundane (yet secretive) task of paperwork. As a result he moved his hand away from the hidden compartment underneath his desk where his gun, Excalibur, was resting. Instead, he immediately raised his hand in front of his face just in time to catch a USB. His fingers curled around the small item into a fist and placed his hand back down onto his table.

_'Haha, he missed. Never has he once got me,' _Arthur smiled internally with triumph. He was trying to act professional because the head of the MI0 wasn't allowed to act childish. Especially with this nonsensical game that was between him and his best sorcerer.

But then a paper airplane hit him in the head, bouncing off his golden locks. It landed onto the table before unfolding magically back into a flat piece of paper with a list of names without any visible creases.

Arthur looked up from his fist and paper with a stern look to see his gangly, big eared, blue eyed, pale skinned and raven headed sorcerer—Agent Warlock—or better yet known as Merlin, aka, The Idiot. An idiot, because right now the man in question had this marvellously, idiotic grin spread wide across his face. It happened to be the first time that the warlock managed to land a hit on the currently not-so-pleased Pendragon.

"Agent Warlock," greeted an irked Arthur.

"Prat," chippered Merlin, purposely not calling his superior by his codename, Prince. He was doing a little celebratory, victory dance in his head for landing a hit to Mr. I-have-been-trained-to-kill-since-birth.

"Merlin," warned Arthur.

"Shutting up, Arthur," he quipped and then winced, another shot of pain skittered through his left arm.

Arthur ignored the lack of respect that Merlin was giving him. The both of them knew that was how their 'friendship' worked. They had a simple employer-employee relationship, it was just that, self-explanatory and all in the name. Even amongst the staff of the MI0, it could be easily seen that the two of them were clearly friends, best friends as Merlin was the only one who could get away with teasing the head of the MI0 incessantly and still be the few opinions that Arthur truly valued. Albeit, Arthur made sure that Merlin's working life was a living hell, but still safe. Heck, Arthur basically got Merlin his job at the MI0. However, neither of them acknowledged their friendship openly, they knew it existed and that was all that mattered.

"What the hell happened to you Merlin?" exclaimed Arthur as he finished his once over of Agent Warlock.

Merlin had a few scratches on his face and his left arm was covered in what looked like a blood covered impromptu bandage made from a torn shirt sleeve. The bloodied bandage seemed to be once the same colour as his shirt, plus the fact that his left sleeve was missing.

"Oh you know the usual Arthur," replied Merlin nonchalantly like he was talking about the weather, "'Hey Merlin, I've got an easy mission for you to do. All you need to do is meet up with this Syndicate bloke dealing in blood crystals and give him a USB in return for a piece paper with a list of names on it. Meanwhile—at them same time—you can get get chased through six different countries, whilst getting shot at by angry mobsters and end up on the other side of the world where the person you are supposed to meet has already been compromised, leading to all the information gathered to be rendered as useless.' And of course I reply with a, 'Sure I can Arthur, because I am your slave for life.'"

Arthur listened to Merlin incredulously and then stated bluntly, "So you failed."

Merlin bit into his bottom lip tentatively and wagged his jaw side to side, "Yep," he pops the P, "But you see the whole entire mission was a dud. By the way Arthur, keep an eye out for any reports of a corpse with cracked skull rocking up in Darling Harbour, Sydney," he finished with a nervous grin.

Arthur rans a hand down his face, essentially facepalming himself. "You are utterly unbelievable Merlin; to be able to botch up a simple task."

"Meeting up with this guy wasn't exactly easy. I was forced to use magic to prevent a good chunk of the Sydney Opera House from being wiped off the tourist's map."

"And you are supposed to be my best sorcerer?" muttered Arthur under his breath.

"What was that Arthur? I can't hear you? It's not befitting of a leader to mutter," sing songed Merlin.

Arthur gave him the stare.

Merlin immediately shut ups and then slowly asked, "So why the hell was I summoned here again Prat? I think I rather see Gaius in the infirmary to do something about this arm."

Arthur nodded. His left arm definitely didn't look like it had a little scratch. He straightened himself in his leather chair and brought up a computer screen which rose from the middle of the desk, pushing apart the piles of paper. "This next assignment may give you a chance to redeem yourself from your last botched up job."

Merlin huffed at the insult, but he observed the images and texts that were appearing on the screen with an analytical eye. Lists of prominent scientists, breakthroughs in genetics, DNA manipulation, drugs, everything the current medical world was at a buzz about were mentioned in the information. Amongst the medical paragraphs were texts of a darker nature, from simple tax fraud, money laundering to the results of failed medical experiments. The only thing that the jumble of information had all in common was The Saint Corporation.

"So what do you want me to do with The Saint Corporation, Arthur?" questioned Merlin carefully. Dealing with drug syndicates and illegal weapons traders tended to leave a black and white world in their wake. It was place where one could force themself to see simply in good versus evil. But when it came to well respected companies, the world tended to have many more shades of grey and as a result, subterfuge and delicacy were more important.

"It's quite simple really," smiled Arthur, giving Merlin a look he knew all too well.

"Well I don't believe you and I refuse to do whatever it is."

"If only you could Merlin. This task actually would be better suited for you and your magical talents."

"So you finally admitted that I am actually good at something Arthur. Did Gwen make you watch The Notebook again? You're actually nicer when you watch chick flicks with her," teased Merlin.

"We watched Moulin Rouge. But that's not the point. The point is that The Saint Corporation has been experimenting with a highly magical artefact with a code name of PROJECT BLUE."

Arthur brought up an image on the screen. The PROJECT BLUE, or BLUE for short appeared to be some sort of ovoid-tear shaped object that was coloured pale blue. Like that of the walls of a baby's room with parents who were expecting a boy.

"So this is BLUE. What is it? And why do we need it?"

"That is none of your concern Agent Warlock, except that you and the assigned team would need to retrieve it."

_'Ohhh, the shit has hit the roof. This must be a serious mission, the Prat is calling me by my codename.'_

"So you want me to steal it," he emphasised the one key word. He already could see why his certain magical talents of 'opening doors' might come in handy. But it didn't mean that he liked it. "From a highly secure vault of a secretive pharmaceuticals company. You know the medical lot are paranoid freaks, right?"

"Yeah. Basically. But don't worry, I got a strategy all set out with the plans, blueprints and weapons dispatched for you and the team. You'll meet with them at The Tavern tomorrow."

With the naming of the single building, The Tavern, Merlin knew exactly who he was working with. He will be working with the elite squad of the MI0—The Knights.

* * *

Afterwards, Merlin was finally able to escape to clutches of his boss (note: unofficial best friend) and make his way a few floors below Arthur's office to the MI0 infirmary. The infirmary was something crossed between a laboratory, hospital, library and occasional living space for the person in charge of the place, Dr. Gaius Sullivan.

Merlin waltzed into the room as if he hadn't had a care in the world. But Gaius, who also turned out to be Merlin's uncle on his mother's side, watched his injured nephew with an eye of scrutiny accompanied with the caterpillar eyebrow raised in disbelief (or acknowledgement).

"What did you do this time Merlin?" asked Gaius with a sigh. The boy was too reckless and he doesn't think that his heart can take it anymore.

The warlock plopped himself onto the stainless steel bench and proceeded to take of his shirt. Upon the removal of the dirt and blood stained shirt revealed a pale chest feathered in dark hair that was almost flawless—except for the single white, puckered scar that began from just behind his right arm pit to his right hip and disappearing underneath his trousers. Merlin sat there like a child, mildly swinging his legs whilst Gaius made his way to his nephew.

"Hmmm, ruined your arm again Merlin," stated Gaius as he eyed the roughly bandaged arm and the blood stain shirt beside his nephew-patient. "Should I even bother asking how you did it?"

Gaius began to unwrap the cotton bandages on his injured arm. Merlin winced in pain, gritting his teeth together. He could hear his dried up blood that caked the bandage crackle from the movement, peeling at his wound.

"Preferably not," grunted Merlin, "Let's say a sniper is also very good with throwing daggers."

"You need to be more careful, Merlin. Magic doesn't solve everything. But prevention is the best method." Gaius dabbed the wound with alcoholic antiseptic to clean it.

Merlin hissed, "I know, I know. It's just that I was desperate. I came out alive, didn't I?"

"Alive and injured, you mean." Gaius put a poultice to the arm and then muttered a few words of the Old Religion, his eyes flashing gold. The wound closed up and disappeared. "Well, that should do it. It will still be a bit sore for a few weeks since this isn't my specialty. If Alice wasn't in the States, I think you will feel as good as new, but you got me instead so the muscles isn't cleanly and knitted as it looks like from the outside, Merlin. Really Merlin, for a talented sorcerer, a warlock, you are really useless with healing magic."

Merlin smiled sheepishly and takes a glimpse at his left arm. The raggedy wound was gone, all that was left was a faint pink line that would fade in time and leave no scar. He lifted his arm and rolled his shoulder joints. It was going all right until a sudden throb of pain came to life.

"Ouch."

Gaius raised an eyebrow in that oh-so-typical-Gaius way.

"I know, I know, Gaius. I'll be fine, don't worry. I'll get a good night's rest tonight before my next mission." Merlin hopped off the steel bench before going through one of the cupboards where spare shirts were usually stored (a lot of them tended to be used by him).

"The Prince is sending you on another mission already. I thought you just came back from one in Australia."

"Yeah, I did. Turned out to be a dud."

Gaius frowned at the statement.

"Meaning that I failed," summed up Merlin curtly, "So to make back the failure, the Prat is sending me on another. This one specifically requires magic apparently."

"Do I have clearance to know about this mission?"

Merlin slipped on a black t-shirt before wrapping an arm around Gaius' shoulders, "To me, Uncle Gaius, you have all the clearance you need."

Gaius turned around, removing Merlin's arm off his lab coat covered shoulders. _'Maybe that new antiseptic didn't react well with Merlin. He was acting odd.'_

"We're breaking into The Saint Corporation to steal some blue ball. Anyway, best be off. I think I've got tonnes of mail since I haven't been home for over two weeks."

Merlin exited the infirmary with a wave.

* * *

Merlin lived in a dingy one-room apartment in the East End. The area wasn't particularly nice, but it was home. Home enough since he spent most of his time half way across the world preventing evil magical things happening as soon as his clotpole of a boss tells him to.

Once Merlin had his dinner of Thai takeaway (everything in his fridge seemed to be off) and his shower, he finally had a chance to look at the mail piled up on his kitchen table.

"Bills, bills, bills," he flicked each envelope onto another pile, "My National Geographic subscription, and what's this?"

The envelope was thick and weighty, like parchment paper. Merlin opened the envelope, revealing a letter with a golden border and fancy script.

_William Smith & Helios Spyros Charity d'Oro Ball and Auction_

_Dear Merlin Emrys,_

_You are cordially invited to attend The Charity d'Oro Ball (The Gold Ball) and Auction of William Smith and Helios Spyros in order to celebrate a new joint partnership between Smith Resources and Sun Mining._

_The money raised in this event will be used to develop new sustainable forms of energy and provide healthcare the regions of Africa where Sun Mining excavates._

Merlin quickly scanned through the nit picky things like dates and location, but it wasn't until he reached the bottom of the invitation where he saw in messy scrawl:

_You better come Sorcerer or else I'm gonna drag your sorry arse from that boring mortgage job of yours here._

_-Will :P_

Merlin grinned at his old childhood friend's writing and blunt way of 'speech'. It has been quite a while since he saw his friend.

He and William Smith—or Will for short—grew up in the small English town of Ealdor. Whereas, Merlin saw himself becoming an academic and eventually finding his way to university through scholarships and hard work, Will on the other hand was a bit of a risk-taker. One day Will won some money in a lottery and instead of putting it a term deposit or paying off his debts, he decided to place all his money in some shares of a new energy company. That gamble paid off and now the country boy of Ealdor was part of the elite Top Twenty Richest People in the United Kingdom.

However, Will didn't become snobby or arrogant. Just the same old reckless guy that Merlin hanged out with as a child to nick from Old Man Simmon's farm and nearly fell a tree on top of him. A friend in which he can tell him just about anything, including his magic. Only except one thing—his job. Will thought Merlin worked for a mortgage and insurance company, but since he actually worked for the MI0, he was forbidden to tell anyone about his true job. It wasn't an intelligence agency for nothing.

Merlin replied to Will's invite by texting him back, though in a much cruder and profane way as close friends would do to each other. Then he decided to call his mother since he realised that he had over four missed calls from her. After three rings she picked up.

"Merlin, how are you? How was Australia?" Hunith asked as soon as she picked up her phone.

Merlin frowned, "Hi Mum. I'm fine. How did you know I was in Australia?"

"Gwen called me on your boss's behalf. Such a nice girl. Arthur is lucky to have her."

"Yeah, Gwen is great. And she's too good for Arthur. But Australia was nice. Nice mochas, friendly people and spectacular fireworks by the harbour." _Yeah, if you like flashy bombs and sleeping or dead people that is._

"That's lovely dear. Anyway I wanted to ask if I could come and stay at your apartment for a night in a few weeks time? The house has a small termite infestation and exterminators are going to come in and fix it up, then some tradies are going to come in renovate parts of it."

"Sure Mum, no problems."

"Thank you baby, I haven't seen my little boy in ages. You best be off to be in bed now. Night, night."

"Muuum," he whined. He was a twenty-seven year old man and his mother still thought of him as a child.

"Now listen to your mother."

"Alright Mum. Night, Mum."

"Night dear."

The call ended and Merlin really did think he needed to go to sleep because of tomorrow. He had a briefing with the Knights at The Tavern.

* * *

_Author's Notes_

_Well I hope the characters weren't too OOC. As a Spy!AU I was thinking Bamf!Merlin or actually badass everyone. Anyway next time Merlin and The Knights are breaking into The Saint Corporation :D. Please leave a review._

_But did you hear the latest interviews with Colin and Katie? They said they wouldn't have mind that Merlin and Morgana had hooked up! My OTP can still exist. And also Katie said that Morgana had a lover she would've chosen Merlin. She's a Mergana shipper, I 3 her. Ahhh the angsty, non- existing, tragic romance D:_

_Guest: I would love to do something similar to your request but this story is a little mature (in all aspects I think), you can try reading Kitty O's The Vault of Emrys. It's a Spy!AU where Gwen and Arthur are married but Merlin and Morgana are not. It's very good. I'll write up a fanfic set in the time of the series is in when I think of an idea that is somewhat original._


	3. Chapter 3

**MI0 Pleasure**

**Chapter 3**

Early in the morning, Merlin took the tube to the Tavern. It was so early that London could be almost described as dead; not that a bustling city such as London ever slept, but how it looked like now was as probably as close as one could get. When he got off his station, Merlin straightened his red scarf and tucked his hands in his woollen coat before stepping out of the train to brave the London chill.

The Tavern was found right across the station and had the appearance of a rundown pub. So rundown and unkempt with its lichen speckled roof, grimy windows, flaking paint and bad drainage pipes which left trails of mould and algae in its wake, it dissuaded most possible customers from it. The average person wouldn't have even thought of drinking at The Tavern for fear of their life from alcohol poisoning (in all sense of the word). However, Merlin was not the average person. No, he was Agent Warlock of the MI0 and he knew The Tavern was just a cover for a secret, sophisticated weapons development laboratory.

Merlin walked up to door in the gloomy, dawn light beneath the flickering static of the light posts. There was a bronze dragon's head knocker and with it he knocked three times, paused for exactly three and a half seconds, and performed double knock.

In one second the dragon's head became animated and yawned widely before speaking, "Who's this disturbing me?"

"It is Agent Warlock - Merlin Emrys reporting for duty," replied Merlin in a whisper.

"Really? Cause you don't seem like Agent Warlock to me. Where's the beard or stubble?" The dragon then 'peered' at him. Merlin could've sworn that its little bronze eyes were squinting.

Merlin rolled his blue eyes. Firstly, he felt stupid talking to an animated dragon which was only a door knocker that was enchanted to be alive, and secondly with an archaic name such as his, everyone expected him to have a beard or at least be unshaven.

"I am Merlin Emrys, also known as Agent Warlock of the MI0. I request entry into The Tavern," he asked the dragon knocker.

"I don't believe you. The Black Knight said Agent Warlock was coming, not this scrawny fellow who claims to be Agent Warlock." The dragon gave him another once over.

"Oh screw this," muttered Merlin. He raised his hand to the door knob and said, "Tospringe."

The door after several moments of clicking noises emanating from the moving gears and locks, it swung open much to the dragon knocker's dismay, who started yelling out, "Intruder! Intruder!" until the door was fully open and it returned to an inanimate state.

Merlin walked into the building and stepped into the wooden floor boarded room which is meant to be the bar room. It was full of tables and chairs at the moment, and had several flat screen televisions on the wall to play the various sports when there were patrons, if there were patrons.

"ZING!"

Three darts fly straight at him. Merlin raises his hands and with a flash of his golden eyes they freeze mid-air, stopping a few mere inches from his outstretched palms. But then he sees a red laser light running right across the outstretched limbs. It triggers another booby trap. Three more darts come flying toward him. Merlin quickly releases the magic holding the previous darts in its frozen states and slows down time to dodge the new missiles.

However, he ends up stepping onto another floorboard and it sinks into the ground. He hears a creak from above, and a large net comes falling from a hole in the ceiling. Merlin pushes against a chair to give him the momentum to perform a commando roll. He rolls out of the path of the net and where he was is now the chair which he used to push off from. It was slightly singed because the net was imbued with magic designed to electrocute as well as immobilise.

Merlin grins with amusement.

"Click."

He feels the end of metallic object nudging at the back of his head, brushing against his thick, raven hair.

"Got you now, Warlock," said a gruff voice rather smugly.

Merlin grinned harder, knowing exactly who held the gun to the back of his head. "The Green Knight wants to think that way, but I am sorry that I will have to prove you wrong."

His eyes flash gold and the net entangled chair flies toward the Green Knight, who was holding him captive. The Green Knight had fast reflexes and a faster mind. He knew that physically touching the net would electrocute him, so he reached out for a chair, and with his brute strength, flings it out to knock the contraption off course. Yet, by the time he performs the manoeuvre he realised that his gun has been twisted out of his hand and is held at point blank range to his face by a grinning Merlin.

"Hello Gwaine," greeted Merlin calmly.

"Hi, Merlin, you going to shoot me Magic Boy?" replied Gwaine. Gwaine had his trademark charming smile on spread across his face (accentuated by his trademark designer stubble and swishy, brown hair).

"I think I will."

Merlin pulls the trigger.

Gwaine continues grinning because all that comes out at the end of the barrel is a smiley face on a spring accompanied by a farting sound.

The two men look at each other for a moment before bursting into fits of laughter and embracing each other.

"It's been a long time Gwaine. I hope you're not coming in here for a morning drink, are you?"

"No. Just to make sure that our friendly neighbourhood sorcerer isn't incapacitated. Elyan is going to be pissed that you made it through the latest course and destroying half the bar while you were at it. But I must say he needs to reprogram or re-enchant, I'm not sure, that knocker again. It's a total bastard. Anyway, I suppose you're here for the Project BLUE Mission?"

"Yeah. And I wasn't the only one throwing chairs around."

Gwaine shrugged and walked towards a giant, stuffed grizzly bear mounted on a pedestal in the corner of the room. It was standing on its two hind legs and its forearms were held out with sharp claws ready to swipe out. The mouth of the beast was wide open forever more prepared to give a killer bite. Gwaine reached out and put his hand in the beast's mouth and tugged one of its sharp canines. He took a step back and the bear on the pedestal moved sidewards, revealing a stairway that lead underneath the Tavern.

"Ready to go Merlin?" he asked.

"Give me a second," replied Merlin. Merlin took one more glance at the room. He was repairing and cleaning as much as the room he could. He spotted the chair the Gwaine threw. He had a shattered leg, shards of it sprayed across the room.

"Gebétung stól." The bits chair scattered across the room came to the main body of the chair and pieced itself back together. It then floated back to the original dining room set it belonged to.

"Good job, Merlin. Maybe Elyan won't kill us now," grinned Gwaine.

"I hope not."

They then went down the passage way to Elyan's lab.

* * *

"I can't believe you got yourself out of that one again Warlock," exclaimed the exasperated dark-skinned man, whom was wearing a pair of oil covered overalls.

This was Elyan – the Black Knight. His code name was not only because of his skin (which he never took offense to), but because he spent most of his time in the dark with his projects. He was the MI0's lead weapons inventor, spending most of his time alone creating various gadgets. Currently, he was working on the new getaway vehicle that would be used for the retrieval mission of Project BLUE. The vehicle looked like a standard van which had the words Mario's Internet Operations printed on the side—but, being created from the Black Knights mind, there was bound to be a lot of nifty things embedded into it.

"It'll be fine to deter and capture your average enemy, but you are going to have to work a little harder to deter me," chuckled Merlin.

"Well, it's good that you could evade most of those. The layout of the Saint Corporation's safe where Project BLUE is kept under locks is very similar to that," replied Elyan whilst he wiped his oil covered hands on a rag before bringing up the layout of the Saint Corporation.

"Don't get too cocky, Merlin. It doesn't look good on you," commented a deep voice.

The three of them turn around to see Percival—the Grey Knight. He was tall giant of a man who is built like a bull and his arms looked like they could crush you, but no. He was a gentle giant and preferred dealing with electrical wires and the knick-knacks of technology. He was holding onto a tablet which was connected to the screen that had the layout of the Saint Corporation. With the tablet, Percival zoomed into one of rooms, showing a 3D projection of it.

"This is the safe room for Project BLUE which Prince wants us to break into," Percival states.

Merlin looks at the specs of the safe room. "So it's covered by some super thick walls of steel, some many metres below their laboratory in rural England. Where was it again?"

"In Dartmoor, a bleak, boring and completely isolated place. That just adds to the suspiciousness of a pharmaceuticals company." A Hispanic man stated as he entered the room with a tray of take away coffees. "I brought drinks by the way."

"Aw-w, no ale Lancelot?" whined Gwaine.

"Definitely not, Gwaine. It's too early for you to be your cups," Lancelot replied before placing the tray onto the table where the screen protruded from and then took a seat. He was the White Knight; the second in charge of the MI0's elite - the Knights. Second only to the Yellow Knight who wasn't here yet, which was unusual for the usually punctual man.

"Where's Leon?" asked Merlin.

"Him and Mithian are on their first year anniversary and the Princess gave him time off. Lucky guy," answered Gwaine.

"Oh-h, then I suppose you are in charge Lancelot?" Merlin seats himself around the table where the computer screen sat before him, joining the other men. He reaches out for his coffee on the take away tray and takes a gulp. It was hot and strong, just the way he liked it.

"Correct; and since all the Knights are assembled, excluding Leon," Lancelot looked at Elyan, Gwaine and Percival, "with its partnering sorcerer for this assignment, Retrieval Mission of Project BLUE." He looked at Merlin. "I think we can begin discussing the strategy that Arthur has given us to start off with."

The plan that Arthur had concocted was quite simple—only the first half though.

This was because the elite of the MI0 – the Knights had impeccable team work, even with one of their own not on duty. They were a single, cohesive unit. They were able to pull things off simply with no fuss and hassle, altogether they were ruthlessly efficient. Added, to them was their accompanying sorcerer, Merlin, like that in all units of MI0.

Sorcerers were a necessary part of unit since the MI0 dealt with magical problems and often magical problems needed a magical solution. However, reliable and trustworthy sorcerers were hard to come by with, especially when it came to nation-threatening issues. So as a result, sorcerers don't have a team they pair with permanently, unlike the members of the Knights who obviously knew each other very well (which is rare in the world of espionage). Instead, they often flit between groups and missions. Thankfully, Merlin had worked with the Knights quite a few times before. Often he was a solo agent, a lone wolf. This was because he was the most powerful sorcerer in the MI0. He was a Warlock. A being born of magic.

After discussing the proposed plan and just before they left to go the Saint Corporation Laboratories, Elyan gave each of the member of the unit there gadgets and weapons. He himself was never much as a field agent, preferring to be involved in the mission through the use of his technology.

* * *

"Okay, guys, look after you weapons and bits of technology since Elyan would kill us if we would help you blend in and get your way through the doors of the Saint Corporation guys, according the Elyan here," stated Lancelot whilst they were in the back of 'Mario's Internet Operations' van parked in the employee parking lot of the Saint Corporation.

"Yeah, can do, I've got a nifty tool kit for hacking into the security system," mentioned Percival who was still going through a seemingly mundane tool kit. Except that it has a built computer that had a processor that could almost rival at least a third of Google's servers.

"Lucky you Percy," commented Gwaine, "Whilst you just pretend to be a Mario to fix their internet connection and Lancelot is in this awesome van to be our unnecessary fast and furious driver. All I get is my usual gun. I want something bit more explosive."

"What are you complaining about Gwaine? At least you get a gun. I get a bag to carry the blue ball. Something about weight sensitive pressure tiles." Merlin strapped the bag onto his back before putting a black suit jacket over the top. He didn't really mind not having a weapon since he himself was one. But he would like the weight of a gun strapped onto him.

"Well that's enough complaining. Let's get this task over and done with. Make sure that you stay connect all the time." Lancelot was referring to the communications device that was disguised as one of those ribbon pins a person would buy for charity. "Gwaine, I'll buy you a drink if this succeeds, alright?" the White Knight offered.

"Can do," affirmed the Green Knight.

"Okay, let's begin."

Lancelot planted himself in the driver's seat and Percival in the passenger seat. Gwaine and Merlin eased themselves out of the back door while Lancelot makes a smooth turn, making it look like from any other angle that the two men had just parked their cars in the parking lot.

Merlin and Gwaine had business suits on. Gwaine had folders in one arm while, Merlin had a lanyard on his neck with an identification code on it. They confidently made their way to the front office and presented themselves to the secretary who was busy typing something on her computer with a scrunched up face. Her internet wasn't working and she was hoping that the rest of the network was ok.

"You'll get wrinkles on your pretty face if you keep looking like that," commented Gwaine.

The lady wearing glasses looked up at the two men with an irritated expression. "May I help you gentlemen?"

"I'm here from the research department in London to introduce our new internship to work on the new project," he emphasised. Merlin leaned against the desk and smiled charmingly at the woman, pretending to be a cocky, newly graduated scientist.

The woman looked at them sceptically. The newly graduated scientist looked a little too old to have finished now. But then again, a there has been an increase of mature age students. "I didn't receive any notification from head office that new scientist was coming in today. I would like to see some ID please."

"Well obviously my secretary has been slack," complained Gwaine, "I didn't take this guy down from London for absolutely no reason and just to end up here to be refused." He continued blathering on about his non-existent secretary, forcing the secretary to pay attention to him.

Gwaine was actually buying time for Merlin who was looking over the computer screen and onto her desk. His eyes were flashing gold at a furious pace until he found some ID's. Merlin with his hand covered the ID on his lanyard and with another gold flash he copied some random scientist's ID. He then did the same to another lanyard in his pocket with another ID before discreetly slipping it into Gwaine's pocket. That was the signal.

"Why am I telling you all this?" questioned Gwaine in a frustrated manner.

"I have absolutely no clue," she annoyingly replied, "But, I'm going to need to see your ID, Sir, or else I have to call security to escort you out."

"Of course, of course. You got your's Junior?" Gwaine looked at Merlin.

"Yes, Sir." Merlin took off the lanyard and passed it to the woman. Gwaine does the same and gives it to her.

She quickly scanned them and analysed the pages that came up. She frowns and then almost sneers, she was obviously very pissed off. "Your ID's are real. Though with the professionalism of the London office, I highly doubt Mr. O'Leary and Mr. McCormack."

"Well, it's just my secretary that lacks professionalism. You on the other hand, Miss, could definitely replace her any time though," Gwaine flirted.

She wrinkles her nose. "I rather not Mr. O'Leary. You and Mr. McCormack may now pass." The woman was attempting to get rid of them (specifically Gwaine) as fast as possible.

They passed through the automatic sliding doors and headed towards the basement and below where Project BLUE was kept.

"Now that was a piece of cake," comment Merlin.

"It sure was, Magic Boy. You're next Grey Knight."

In the van Lancelot looked at Percival. He picked up his tool kit and went toward the office to see the same glasses wearing secretary.

"Excuse me, Miss."

She looked up from her dead internet to see the big, burly man, giving him a quick once over and gave a small smile. She apparently liked what she saw. "May I help you, Sir?"

"I'm Mario Rosetti from Mario's Internet Operations. I was called in earlier to help with the connection issues."

"I don't remember calling for help," she mused quietly and evidently out loud.

"No, the security department did. A good chunk of the system is down and the head officer called my business for help. We often work at the London branch when the IT department is flat out." Percival flashed her a small smile.

"Of course, of course," she replied rather breathlessly, "I shall call Henry straight away."

"No need, Miss. I'm pretty sure I can work out the problems from the circuitry boards that are connected to your computer her."

"Of course, Mr. Rosetti," she agreed and looked rather appreciatively to Percival's big arms.

"Please call me Mario, Miss...?"

"Ellen. My name is Ellen."

"Ellen, then. Well, Ellen I'll just be behind your desk where the boards are and start my work then. I hope I won't be disturbing you too much."

"None at all," she replied rather quickly and little flushed.

As soon as Percival hooked himself to the small circuit through her computer he immediately hacked his way into the security systems. "Hm-m, I think this might take a while. Sorry about this Ellen, it may actually take a while to fix, it appears."

"Don't be sorry! You're the second handiest person to fix this silly backwards technology pharmaceuticals company today. Just a half an hour ago we had a ventilation problem in our vents and we had to call someone down to fix it. Working vents are really important to the labs since vaccines need to be kept in a stable temperature to grow. The system is controlled electronically, but nothing was wrong with it—but now I doubt since you are here. The woman, if you can believe, a woman that came to fix the air conditioning had to climb through the vents to see if there is a blockage. Now, that I think about it. She hasn't come back yet."

Percival looked up Ellen with a worried face. Climbing through air vents was a basic tactic for sneaking in. A child could figure that out.

"God, I hate Trojan viruses." That was code for 'we have an intruder, mission has been breached.'

But Merlin and Gwaine had easily got themselves to the safe room. Just a little magic, some colourless and odourless 'forget me' gas (according to Elyan) all the legitimate employees didn't even recognise them. Then they just loitered near the door of the room to break into for a while until they heard the code.

"It actually may take a while to fix it appears," they heard Percival speak out.

At this stage the security was at disarray and security guards already abandoned their post to go the other end of the building to fight a non-existent threat.

Both of them smiled and went to the door.

Merlin held out his at the lock and sensor pad and whispered, "Oncluce þe." His eyes glowed and the first barrier unlocked.

Gwaine pushed through, followed by Merlin.

Merlin had to repeat this four more times until they were at the last door.

"Are you ready for this Warlock?" asked Gwaine. This was second half of the mission – the difficult half. From opening the door one has only seven minutes to grab the object before the door automatically shuts, whilst preventing booby traps being set off. Even if the object is removed normally, room temperatures immediately drops to minus forty centigrade due to the lack of weight that is on the pedestal is sits on. Then, it is the quick getaway out of the damn place and back to the Tavern where Lancelot owes Gwaine a drink.

"Whenever you are, Green Knight," replied Merlin.

Just as Merlin finished the spell and they enter the room, both of them hear the code – the mission is in jeopardy.

But it is too late.

Merlin looks in the pure white room and where the pedestal is, there isn't the Project BLUE. Instead he see's a slim, woman in black clutching it. Her face is a pale like alabaster and her hair is tied into a tight pony tail except for a few strands that escaped it and frame her face. But it's her eyes that catch Merlin's attention. Her amazingly bright green eyes that connect to his surprised blue eyes.

* * *

Author's Note

And yes I just did that. But we will deal with the Merlin-Morgana confrontation next time. Did you guys spot the Sherlock reference?


End file.
